Electric Meter Electric Bill Breakdown:
Saving at home on electricity starts with knowing what is using the most electricity in the house. Differences will exist between an ALL Electric houses or a house that uses natural gas to make hot water in a separate gas fired Hot Water Heater. Nevertheless, let us look at some examples so that we can start to put our own house bills into perspective.
Twenty years ago and still today, the biggest daily user of electric power is most likely your refrigerator and/or your Air Conditioner. All your Incandescent light bulbs used 15% of your total power. Today that has changed to your electronics. They pull power even when they are not on! Today, electronics will use about 15% of your total electric consumption. Please review my blog on October 31, 2013 called Vampire Appliances.
Below is the average breakdown of electric power consumption for a house in the northern States of America. If the house is in the southern areas of America, the shown percentage for heat must be reversed with the percentage for cooling:
Saving at home on electricity starts with knowing what is using the most electricity in the house. Differences will exist between an ALL Electric houses or a house that uses natural gas to make hot water in a separate gas fired Hot Water Heater. Nevertheless, let us look at some examples so that we can start to put our own house bills into perspective.
Twenty years ago and still today, the biggest daily user of electric power is most likely your refrigerator and/or your Air Conditioner. All your Incandescent light bulbs used 15% of your total power. Today that has changed to your electronics. They pull power even when they are not on! Today, electronics will use about 15% of your total electric consumption. Please review my blog on October 31, 2013 called Vampire Appliances.
Below is the average breakdown of electric power consumption for a house in the northern States of America. If the house is in the southern areas of America, the shown percentage for heat must be reversed with the percentage for cooling:
Electric Meter Heating 29%
Cooling 17%
Consumer Electronics 15%
Water Heating 14%
Appliances 13%
Lighting 12%
Cooling 17%
Consumer Electronics 15%
Water Heating 14%
Appliances 13%
Lighting 12%
Yearly electric bill for areas with the highest Kilowatt cost (West and East Coast Cities) would be an average of $6,000.00. Please note that this is in addition to any natural gas or oil consumption bills.
Solar Energy! My costs are as follows:
Heating - I use Natural Gas with a 92% efficient unit, yearly cost: $ 340.00
Cooling - I use Solar Power, yearly cost: $ 0
Consumer Electronics - I use Solar Power, yearly cost: $ 0
Water Heating - I use Natural Gas with a 92% efficient unit, yearly cost: $ 420.00
Appliances - I use Solar Power, yearly cost: $ 0
Lighting - I use Solar Power, yearly cost: $ 0
My yearly grand total for Energy costs: $760.00. When I go with Solar Hot Water, I will save the $420 a year cost in Natural Gas. FYI: After the tax credits for going solar, my payback is just 4.5 years because I went with the pre-paid Lease program.
Now, I also receive a check at the end of the year from my electrical power company, this reimburses me for the approximate $10.00 a month cost they charge me to still be hooked up to the Grid. They pay me .4 cents per Kilowatt, while taking the extra power I created and placed back onto their Grid, so they can sell it to others for a price between .18 and .23 cents per Kilowatt. Wow! Twenty years ago we paid .12 cents per kilowatt and they paid .4 cents to anyone creating power by wind, solar, or a burning garbage facility. Since then our cost has gone up to .23 cents per kilowatt and they are still paying us .4 cents. Amazing, but that must be fair right? If it wasn't, how could they get away with that type of scalping? All our government politicians have failed us. For more on this, see my Solar Sabotage blog posting!
Bill Lauto , GTG
Environmental Scientist
International Sustainability and Energy Consultant
Contribute your comments!
Heating - I use Natural Gas with a 92% efficient unit, yearly cost: $ 340.00
Cooling - I use Solar Power, yearly cost: $ 0
Consumer Electronics - I use Solar Power, yearly cost: $ 0
Water Heating - I use Natural Gas with a 92% efficient unit, yearly cost: $ 420.00
Appliances - I use Solar Power, yearly cost: $ 0
Lighting - I use Solar Power, yearly cost: $ 0
My yearly grand total for Energy costs: $760.00. When I go with Solar Hot Water, I will save the $420 a year cost in Natural Gas. FYI: After the tax credits for going solar, my payback is just 4.5 years because I went with the pre-paid Lease program.
Now, I also receive a check at the end of the year from my electrical power company, this reimburses me for the approximate $10.00 a month cost they charge me to still be hooked up to the Grid. They pay me .4 cents per Kilowatt, while taking the extra power I created and placed back onto their Grid, so they can sell it to others for a price between .18 and .23 cents per Kilowatt. Wow! Twenty years ago we paid .12 cents per kilowatt and they paid .4 cents to anyone creating power by wind, solar, or a burning garbage facility. Since then our cost has gone up to .23 cents per kilowatt and they are still paying us .4 cents. Amazing, but that must be fair right? If it wasn't, how could they get away with that type of scalping? All our government politicians have failed us. For more on this, see my Solar Sabotage blog posting!
Bill Lauto , GTG
Environmental Scientist
International Sustainability and Energy Consultant
Contribute your comments!
Telling the Untold Stories: TELOMERE by L. J. Williams
